By the time the green Corvette finally rolled to a stop near downtown San Jose, people on the sidewalk were counting the shots and wondering how a stolen sports car had turned a weekday afternoon into something closer to a battlefield.
A Multi-County Spree In Stolen Corvettes
According to San Jose police, as reported by Fox News Digital, the man at the center of the pursuit was identified as 30-year-old Mohamed Husien of Davis, California.
San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph told reporters that Husien’s alleged crime spree began in Sacramento on January 17, when he is accused of stealing a red Corvette, then driving into the Bay Area and carrying out a series of robberies across multiple jurisdictions.
A Davis man who died in a shootout with San Jose police stole a corvette from a Sacramento dealership at the beginning of a multi-day crime spree involving multiple armed robberies and carjackings, police say.
Read more in the comments.https://t.co/rXG6nhSu6N pic.twitter.com/0MIJq8DOjR
— FOX40 News (@FOX40) January 23, 2026
Authorities say the violence escalated when Husien allegedly carried out another armed carjacking at a San Jose auto mall and took a green Corvette. That second vehicle would later be seen on social media and by residents who suddenly found their streets part of a mobile crime scene.
Technology Flags A Corvette, A Helicopter Follows
Investigators say the San Jose Police Department’s Real Time Intelligence Center spotted the stolen red Corvette in the city using automated license plate reader cameras. The system provided patrol officers with recent locations for the vehicle ahead of the confrontation.
From there, the chase stopped being purely local. A San Jose police helicopter picked up the car as it traveled south into San Benito County and alerted Hollister police and sheriff’s deputies around midafternoon, according to the account provided to Fox News Digital.
Officers eventually located the Corvette near Central Avenue and Miller Road and began what authorities described as a slow-speed pursuit. The car became disabled near Buena Vista Road and Westside Boulevard. That is where, police say, Husien abandoned the vehicle, pulled a handgun and opened fire on officers before taking off on foot.
Gunfire, A Second Carjacking, And A Return To San Jose
Not far from the disabled Corvette, deputies confronted Husien near Buena Vista Road and Line Street. According to officials, more shots were exchanged. At that point, authorities say, Husien carjacked yet another vehicle at gunpoint and headed back toward San Jose.
As the chase moved north, California Highway Patrol officers came under fire from the fleeing suspect, according to the Fox News report. Separately, a law enforcement source told KTVU that Husien was wanted in multiple robberies in East Palo Alto and San Mateo, suggesting the alleged crime spree reached even farther than officially described in the San Jose news conference.
San Jose police say their ground units did not join the pursuit until it reentered city limits. Throughout the chase, though, the department’s helicopter continued to track the suspect and relay information to outside agencies and to San Jose officers waiting ahead.
Downtown Turns Into What Witnesses Call A ‘War Zone’
The final confrontation unfolded near Julian and Terraine streets, just off Highway 87 on the edge of downtown San Jose. There, authorities say, another exchange of gunfire erupted as officers closed in.
Police say Husien was killed in that final shootout and that a veteran San Jose police sergeant was wounded by gunfire from the suspect. Bystanders reported hearing 20 to 30 rounds. A stretch of Highway 87 was shut down for hours while investigators documented bullet casings, damaged vehicles and the geography of a firefight that had played out within view of apartments and offices.
🚨#Breaking A San Jose Police officer was shot in a shootout with an armed carjacking suspect at the end of a pursuit in Downtown San Jose. A suspect carjacked a green corvette in San Jose at around 2:40 PM, the suspect then ditched that vehicle in the City of Hollister, where he… pic.twitter.com/qni2obEynx
— CodeThreeNews (@CodeThreeNews) January 22, 2026
In a news conference, Chief Joseph did not minimize what residents had experienced. “Every officer involved in yesterday’s harrowing incident will carry the heaviness of what happened for the rest of their lives,” he said. “Some members of the public who were caught in the crossfire described it as the closest thing to war they have ever witnessed, and that gives you a sense of how intense and terrifying those moments were, not just for officers, but for the community.”
The wounded sergeant was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. According to police, he remains in critical but stable condition and is expected to survive.
A Viral Video And An Unanswered Question
Not long after the shooting, video began circulating on social media that appeared to show the suspect entering and exiting a police vehicle before collapsing as officers ran toward him. The short clip quickly became part of the public record around the case, even as officials cautioned that they could not yet verify exactly what it showed.
According to Fox News Digital’s reporting on statements from San Jose police, the department said it could not immediately confirm whether Husien had entered a patrol car. Officials added that the medical examiner will determine the manner of death. That leaves one of the most basic questions in any fatal encounter with law enforcement still open. How exactly did the suspect die in those final seconds near Highway 87.
Officers Praised, Risks Underlined
In a statement shared with KGO and cited by Fox News Digital, San Jose Police Officers’ Association President Steve Slack praised the response by officers who chased and confronted Husien across multiple jurisdictions.
“The incredible bravery exhibited by every officer, especially the SJPD sergeant who was shot and hospitalized after confronting the dangerous criminal, was on full display,” Slack said. He added that the suspect “had no regard for anyone’s life and endangered hundreds of innocent people during his multiple-county crime spree.”
Slack said officers “ran toward gunfire and ultimately eliminated the threat,” and that the injured sergeant “is in good spirits, and we are supporting him and his family in every way we can.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan pointed to the wounded sergeant’s reported first words after arriving at the hospital. “Make sure someone takes care of my dogs,” Mahan quoted him as saying. The mayor called that remark a reflection of the character of the department and the risks officers accept when they leave for work.
“That’s the kind of person he is,” Mahan said. “That’s the kind of people we have on our San Jose police force, people who put their lives on the line to protect our families during the day and then go home at night to take care of their own families.”
An Ongoing Investigation, A Complex Trail
San Jose police have said the investigation is ongoing. That covers not only the shootings in and around San Jose, but the earlier armed robberies that agencies in Sacramento, East Palo Alto, San Mateo and San Benito County are now connecting to the same suspect, according to the Fox News Digital account.
Pieces of the timeline are already clear. A red Corvette stolen in Sacramento. A green Corvette taken at gunpoint from an auto mall. A pursuit that began as a slow-speed follow in farm country and ended with dozens of rounds fired between buildings and freeways.
Others are not. Investigators have not publicly released body camera footage. They have not answered, beyond general statements, how many officers fired and from how many agencies. They have not yet said why the suspect, boxed in near downtown and surrounded by officers, appeared in a video that seems to show him at one point inside a patrol vehicle.
For now, residents of San Jose and the smaller cities whose streets became part of a moving crime scene are left with a sprawling, multi-agency case that stretches across counties and jurisdictions. The official record will grow as reports are completed and evidence is reviewed. The question of how a single stolen Corvette unraveled into what some witnesses called a “war zone” downtown is still being sorted out in police files and investigative interviews.
